[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2847 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.2847

                      One Hundred Eleventh Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten


                                 An Act


 
             To regulate the volume of audio on commercials.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Commercial Advertisement Loudness 
Mitigation Act'' or the ``CALM Act''.

SEC. 2. RULEMAKING ON LOUD COMMERCIALS REQUIRED.

    (a) Rulemaking Required.--Within 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall prescribe 
pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) a 
regulation that is limited to incorporating by reference and making 
mandatory (subject to any waivers the Commission may grant) the 
``Recommended Practice: Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining 
Audio Loudness for Digital Television'' (A/85), and any successor 
thereto, approved by the Advanced Television Systems Committee, only 
insofar as such recommended practice concerns the transmission of 
commercial advertisements by a television broadcast station, cable 
operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor.
    (b) Implementation.--
        (1) Effective date.--The Federal Communications Commission 
    shall prescribe that the regulation adopted pursuant to subsection 
    (a) shall become effective 1 year after the date of its adoption.
        (2) Waiver.--For any television broadcast station, cable 
    operator, or other multichannel video programming distributor that 
    demonstrates that obtaining the equipment to comply with the 
    regulation adopted pursuant to subsection (a) would result in 
    financial hardship, the Federal Communications Commission may grant 
    a waiver of the effective date set forth in paragraph (1) for 1 
    year and may renew such waiver for 1 additional year.
        (3) Waiver authority.--Nothing in this section affects the 
    Commission's authority under section 1.3 of its rules (47 C.F.R. 
    1.3) to waive any rule required by this Act, or the application of 
    any such rule, for good cause shown to a television broadcast 
    station, cable operator, or other multichannel video programming 
    distributor, or to a class of such stations, operators, or 
    distributors.
    (c) Compliance.--Any broadcast television operator, cable operator, 
or other multichannel video programming distributor that installs, 
utilizes, and maintains in a commercially reasonable manner the 
equipment and associated software in compliance with the regulations 
issued by the Federal Communications Commission in accordance with 
subsection (a) shall be deemed to be in compliance with such 
regulations.
    (d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
        (1) the term ``television broadcast station'' has the meaning 
    given such term in section 325 of the Communications Act of 1934 
    (47 U.S.C. 325); and
        (2) the terms ``cable operator'' and ``multi-channel video 
    programming distributor'' have the meanings given such terms in 
    section 602 of Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522).

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.